“If you’ll follow me,” the butler said, stepping around him and leading the way.
The house was even more expensive and massive than he’d thought. They passed room after room that seemed to serve no purpose other than to display costly furniture and knickknacks. They went through an open, airy space walled with windows that might have been a living room in an ordinary home, if the TV above the mantel was any indication.
Aidan felt the blood pounding in his ears, his lips, the high points of his cheekbones he knew were flushed with anger. Baby or no baby, all he wanted at the moment was to wring Tonya’s pretty neck.
Finally, they arrived at a set of open doors and the butler led him into a two-story room lined floor-to-ceiling with bookshelves. Tonya was curled up in a chair beside the fireplace, a roaring fire casting light and shadows across her face. She seemed delicate and lovely in that moment. If he’d had the patience, he might have thought she almost looked human just then.
But he knew she was all harpy.
The butler cleared his throat. “Miss Tonya,” he began, and Aidan cut him off.
“Leave,” he said, in a tone that reminded him of his father. “Now.”
The man obeyed, moving silently across the carpet.
Tonya’s stare wasn’t as cold as she must have wanted it to be. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but Aidan swore he saw a flash of fear. Good. He wanted her to be afraid of something for a change.
She’d been reading a book and closed it slowly as he approached. “Your sister gave you the address,” she guessed.
He braced a hand on the high back of her chair and leaned into her space, forcing her head to tilt back. “What the fuck did you say to my old lady?”
She blinked. Yes, she was decidedly scared. “Old lady? That was fast.”
“I’m not fucking around, Tonya. What did you say to her?”
She tried to shrug, but the effect was ruined by the angle of her neck. “That I was pregnant, and that you were the father.”
“I knowthat. Why did you say it? How the hell did that even come up?”
He saw the wheels turning behind her eyes, the way she was trying to put some kind of spin on it.
“You were being a nasty bitch, weren’t you? Thought you’d hurt me by hurting Sam? Is that it?”
“I–”
He hated her, in that moment. Absolutelyhated. His hand moved before he could check the impulse, fingers going around her slender white throat. He caught himself, didn’t squeeze. But held her, passed his thumb across her windpipe.
She gasped.
“You have everything,” he seethed. “Look at this house, that fancy-ass apartment, your car. Daddy’s money, a rich fiancé. Look at it. All of it.” He gave her a small shake and her eyes flew wide. “You haveeverything. And I’ve got nothing!” he hissed. “But I had Sam, and you couldn’t stand that, could you? You had totake her away from me!”
“Aidan!” She grabbed at the back of his hand, sunk her nails into his skin.
He released her and spun away, put his back to her, rubbed at his face and willed himself to keep it together. He couldn’t choke her, bad as he wanted to. She was carrying his child…
“Christ,” he whispered. “Oh, fuck.”
Behind him, Tonya’s breathing was erratic. He waited for an insult, but it never came. He’d finally rattled her.
Slowly, he turned back around, took in her frightened expression, her hands held loosely around the base of her throat. “Why?” he asked. “You’re getting everything you want. Why take something good away from me?”
She blinked a few times and seemed to compose herself. “She broke up with you?”
“She…” Had she? He didn’t know. She wanted him to grow up. She wished she were the one having his baby instead. “You broke her heart,” he said, and knew that was true. “Was it fun?”
“Do you even want this baby?” she countered.
“What?”
